A frontal view of the Taj Mahal alias Tejo Mahalaya in Agra. It is
octagonal because the Hindus believe in 10 directions. The pinnacle pointing to
the heaven and the foundation to the nether world, plus the eight surface
directions make the 10 directions. Divinity and royalty are believed to hold
sway in all those 10 directions. Hence in Hindu tradition, buildings connected
with royalty and divinity must have some octagonal features or the buildings
themselves should be octagonal. The two flanking cupolas (two others to the rear
are not seen in this photo) are also identical.

The towers at the four plinth corners served as watch towers during the day,
and to hold lights at night. Hindu wedding altars and Satyanarayan worship
altars invariably have such towers at corners. [Many other Hindu temples, such
as those at Khajurao, also can be found to have four towers or temples, one at
each corner of the temple foundation.]

The lotus flower cap on the head of the dome is a Hindu feature. Muslim domes
are bald. This marble edifice has four stories. Inside the dome is an 83 ft.
high hall. The Taj has a double dome. The dome one sees from inside ends like an
inverted pan on the terrace. The dome seen from outside is a cover on the inner
dome. Therefore, in between them is an 83 ft. hall. This may be considered as
one storey. Underneath may be seen the first storey arches and the ground floor
rooms. In the basement, visitors are shown one room. All these constitute the
four storeys in the marble edifice. Below the marble structure are two stories
in red stone reaching down to the river level. The 7th storey must be
below the river level because every ancient Hindu historic building did have a
basement. Thus, the Taj is a seven-storied structure.

As stated at the beginning of this presentation, in case you did not read
it, the captions above
the Taj Mahal photos are kept the way they were found in the album, so the
style of English and the explanations are kept the same. I (Stephen Knapp) did not write these
captions, though many people think I did.